Regents Bachelor of Arts (RBA)

The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, through WLU, is granting the Regents’ Bachelor of Arts Degree (RBA). The RBA Degree is a non-traditional program designed for adults interested in obtaining a bachelor’s degree.

This adult degree was developed with the belief that adults, both psychologically and socially, are so distinctly different from young people that a program of studies designed for men and women should be based at every point on their maturity.

The Program is of high academic quality and the holder of an RBA degree will have met comparable requirements for the more conventional baccalaureate degree. The difference in the two routes toward obtaining a BA degree is the key to the Program. Credit awarded in the conventional manner may be used in the Program, but college equivalent credit awarded for PLA experience can also count toward the degree.

Students entering the Program will be evaluated on their experience and may create a unique program that suits their needs.

The central principle that underlies the PLA experience process is that what the student knows is more important than how he or she learned it. If a student can demonstrate that his or her knowledge and skills are reasonably comparable to what the college-trained student knows, then equal credit will be awarded.

It is unimportant whether the student’s learning took place at an accredited college or elsewhere; whether the instructors held advanced degrees or no degrees at all; whether the matter was learned within the near or distant past; or how long it took to acquire the knowledge or skills. As long as students can provide sufficient evidence that they possess college equivalent knowledge or skills, their achievements will be credited and recognized as applicable towards this degree Program.

Requirements

Required General Education

The Regents Bachelor of Arts degree requires students to take a minimum of 36 hours of general studies course work.  The general studies requirements include courses in the following:

• Six hours of Communications
• Six hours of Humanities
• Six hours of Natural Sciences
• Six hours of Social Sciences
• Three hours of Mathematical Sciences or Computer Applications
• Nine hours of electives (from any of the general studies categories listed above)

Total Credit Hours: 120